The (Forced) New Myspace

Subject: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 19 Nov 10 - 04:45 AM

I'm already missing the old "Blog Archive Box", as it now takes so much longer to get to any particular blog/poem in my collection of 230 - each of which I gave a separate date. And I've had to do quite a lot of work on my new profile, as well - here's what I've come up with so far - http://myspace.com/walkaboutsverse

Any other thoughts on this forced changeover..?

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Rockhen
Date: 19 Nov 10 - 04:55 AM

I have just looked at my myspace pages and logged off again as I can't face sorting them out at the moment. I used mine as my websites and they appear to have altered loads. What a pain. I wish they had made it optional so each person could have taken time upgrading it bit by bit instead of just altering it all. Just can't face messing about with it right now, sigh!

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 19 Nov 10 - 05:04 AM

I find I now have "friends" that I have never heard of, and I was never asked if I wanted to accept them. That seems like an open invitation to nutters.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: treewind
Date: 19 Nov 10 - 05:48 AM

"I now have "friends" that I have never heard of"
They changed that default about a year ago, without warning. You can change it back to "on approval only", or at least you could then. I can't be arsed to find out now: it's bye-bye MySpace for me now and I dumped Fookbase within weeks of joining.

Anahata

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: GUEST,LDT
Date: 19 Nov 10 - 05:52 AM

@Anahata Ah....so that's why you mysteriously disappeared from my friends list.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: treewind
Date: 19 Nov 10 - 06:10 AM

Yeah, don't take it personally !!!

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: GUEST,LDT
Date: 19 Nov 10 - 06:20 AM

I was just worried I'd upset you. :-o

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Fidjit
Date: 19 Nov 10 - 09:32 AM

If you want to show someone something then put it up on Youtube

Chas

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 19 Nov 10 - 12:37 PM

...but Chas, "if you want to show someone something"S, the Myspace music-player is still ueseful, yes?

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 19 Nov 10 - 09:14 PM

If you want to protest, there's this, for what it's worth:
Bring back Myspace

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: katlaughing
Date: 19 Nov 10 - 10:16 PM

I have received two emails this week claiming someone had posted comments on myspace page, but when I go to look there are not comments. The text is in the emails and from no one I know. Truly weird. I don't use it at all anyway, so I guess it doesn't matter much. I like what olddude and others have done on Soundclick...much easier to use.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Fidjit
Date: 20 Nov 10 - 05:38 AM

So who is on Soundclick ?

Chas

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Tootler
Date: 20 Nov 10 - 05:57 AM

I've cancelled my Myspace account. I found it very limited. You could only upload six songs and there are plenty of sites now where you can upload a lot more. I have been using You Tube and the stuff I had on MySpace is mostly on You Tube as well.

I didn't find it easy to customise. In fact there seemed to be very little scope for customisation.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: open mike
Date: 20 Nov 10 - 12:14 PM

I have posted my radio show playlists on there since 2006
I hope they are all still there...
the other thread discussing myspace is here:
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=133616&messages=42

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Girl Friday
Date: 20 Nov 10 - 12:17 PM

I haven't bothered with Myspace since they made it so complicated. I've discovered Facebook. I'm going to cancel my accounts too.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 20 Nov 10 - 05:53 PM

I keep getting notifications that 'someone has commented after you on some' thread or other ... and clicking on them reveals nothing useful...

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Nick E
Date: 20 Nov 10 - 06:16 PM

FORCED? No, you have a choice. Which would be DON'T!

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Nick
Date: 21 Nov 10 - 12:13 PM

"little scope for customisation" - tell that to Led Zeppelin...

Zeppelin on Myspace

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: michaelr
Date: 21 Nov 10 - 12:42 PM

FYI, the new MySpace lets you upload up to 25 songs.

I have no use for something as insidiously invasive as Fakebook.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 Nov 10 - 01:30 PM

"FORCED? No, you have a choice. Which would be DON'T!" (Nick)...I logged in to find my Blog converted, by Myspace, to the new template - as I say, without the old "Blog Archive Box"; thus, I thought I might as well go the whole hog and clicked the change-over button - I notice some still have the old Profile, but I doubt that will last long.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Nov 10 - 11:49 AM

Re. the Blog Archive Box, I just got this message from the Myspace Support Team:

"We are currently working to improve our site we apologize for any inconvenience. Right now this feature is not available /or working. The blogs part is still in development stage and you should expect a real improvement very soon. This issue will be resolved as soon as possible and thank you for your patience."

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: GUEST,John from "Elsie`s Band"
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 10:19 AM

I am informed by Myspace that my computer (WINDOWS ME) is no longer compatible with the browsers required by MySpace. In other words, for the moment, I am kn------d.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 12:58 PM

Yes, John, I think it's okay to work off-line on older systems (even Windows (98), but on-line we eventually have to up-grade.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: GUEST,999
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 01:07 PM

I wrote to tell them I think the new Myspace sucks.

Dammit, if it ain`t broke, don`t fix it!

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 06:18 PM

I went in to 'edit' something, needed to change an address on a main page. It keeps putting the country up as 'United States' though, despite me putting a totally different country on the Profile details.

It says it's 'saved' all the 'changes'...but when I click on Profile there it is again..'United States' (!!!)

It's driving me bats...

Does anyone have any ideas as to how I can get it back to the right country?

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: PercyBysshe
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 06:27 PM

I'm having similar problems. I've been trying to edit the profile for my trio. The changes show up when I'm editing, and still do, but the original version is still there on the public profile. Getting very cross with it. However, listing events seems to be easier - they used to have "Ticketing URL" as a required field and that isn't there anymore, which is good.

The badges are daft though!

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 01:00 PM

Lizzie: at the moment, if we "edit profile" it defaults to the U.S. when we save it normally - thus, click "okay/save" THEN "profile" then "okay/save" again, and it will be as you set it.

Percy: Myspace have forced all onto the new blog, etc. but not the new profile yet - have you clicked the change-over button?

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: PercyBysshe
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 01:07 PM

I think so!

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Surreysinger
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 05:50 PM

It's an enforced change, and if you haven't already tried to change to the new profile, they've just announced that everyone will be converted on December 6th. I've tried several times to clear up the mess that seems to have been caused by the new upgrade. My page was tidy, and my data had been sorted to my liking. Now I find that the conversion instructions are difficult to follow. I am averagely computer literate, but have no idea what some of their instructions mean. I have lost all the paragraphs, italics and bold text that I had inserted, so that the whole now looks unintelligent, my picture display seems to have got lost in the works, and despite the statement that my original page can be retrieved on this occasion it seems to be impossible. I used the Myspace page as a form of website ... now it just looks a messy jumble, and I don't have the time to sort it out. Thanks a bunch Myspace !

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 08:12 PM

I finally had to accept the inevitable and move from dialup to ADSL as both Myspace and FarceBerk would no longer load before timing out - so much extra data to download now!

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 26 Nov 10 - 05:02 AM

I've decided that Myspace must have been taken over by those who work for Facebook, secretly, because surely no company in their right minds would create this chaos all on their own!

I mean? WTF are they DOING???

They had something which worked SO well and they've allowed it to be buggered up beyond belief..

'BBB Myspace' should be their new name...


All the work that so many people have put in on their pages, and most of it will be messed up, or it will disappear completely. Myspace will lose millions of people through this craziness..

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 26 Nov 10 - 05:08 AM

"Lizzie: at the moment, if we "edit profile" it defaults to the U.S. when we save it normally - thus, click "okay/save" THEN "profile" then "okay/save" again, and it will be as you set it."

Thanks for that, but sadly I've already tried doing exactly this and it still says 'United States' by the time the Profile page comes up. I've tried everything I can think of, but nothing makes it do what it's supposed to do.

I've written to Myspace about it, but I don't expect to hear from them because they don't give a flying duck about the very people who've made them a fortune, that is their users. If they did care then none of this would be happening in the first place.

They should just roll over and die, to be honest, because they don't deserve to prosper after making such a complete balls up of something which worked so well.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Fidjit
Date: 26 Nov 10 - 07:24 AM

I'm waiting until the 6th. to see what happens.

Chas

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 26 Nov 10 - 07:52 AM

"I have lost all the paragraphs, italics and bold text that I had inserted, so that the whole now looks unintelligent" (Surreysinger)...me too: in the profile boxes, we can no-longer use basic html commands to put in what you describe - but there is a separate "HTML Box" where we can (and I have, if you'd like to check the atop link) do this. One good thing is that we can move the different modules around - I've put all mine into the one column/e-scroll.

Overall, though, I too wish these changes had not occured.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Tootler
Date: 26 Nov 10 - 07:33 PM

Lizzie, you're not far out. this link in the other Myspace thread explains it.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Matt Seattle
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 10:02 AM

It is somehow comforting to know that it's not just me, though also sad as it was useful as a do-it-yourself basic website for the technologically challenged (me).

I was pretty late going over to broadband, but broadband is not fast enough for the new myspace - a page takes 3 minutes to load and then you get the 'wheel of death' if you try to do anything as simple as scroll down the page.

I didn't know that Fox owned it till I just looked at the link above. I hope there are enough protests for it to get changed back- yahoogroups recently bowed to user pressure after all.

check out myspace.com/mattseattleband - if you've got a spare hour or two ...

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Maryrrf
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 10:11 AM

My MySpace has transitioned too - what's the best alternative to a simple mini website where you can easily put up sound files, include a bio, schedule, etc ?. I know you can do an artist Facebook page but I don't like that either - maybe I'll check out Soundclick...how annoying!

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Folknacious
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 11:01 AM

Facebook is full of complaints from people who hate the MySpace change, with many people saying they're giving up on it. After a number of frustrating attempts I have found it is possible to do good work-overs on the new design. Once you find out where to control "modules" you can click off all the nonsense content like badges, streams etc (and that box which insists on locating you in the USA). You can do HTML coding within boxes so you can have clickable links and external content embedded as before. You can reposition any box, move your music player wherever you like, move (or hide) your friends panel and comments section, add loads more tracks to the player than before. Some of their ready-made colour codings are actually quite attractive, other design choices are as before down to the taste of the individual (unfortunately many have no taste!). Once it's done I concluded it was probably better than the earlier version.

BUT I only found the route to all this quite by accident and had nearly decided to delete the whole page in annoyance, as many others are obviously doing. It's a classic example of a badly-thought-through corporate change with no thought for the end user, they've really shot themselves in the foot over this. About the only good thing you can say is it's free.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: GUEST,999
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 11:06 AM

Is there another site that is like Myspace, but that doesn`t fuck around with its subscribers. If so, would you be kind enough to let me know. I haven`t got the words to say how pissed off I am. Thank you.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: GUEST,999
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 11:14 AM

PS

Liz has taken care of my Myspace site for two or three years now. Thanks, Liz.

If There`s another place we can go, I`m hoping you`ll handle that too. I`m friggin` angry over this shit, and Myspace can kiss my ass. It`s for sure a way to get more cash--which is OK by me. It`s a free site, and even internet people have a right to make a living. However, when you fuck your customers, and those who have helped you make the site what it is, you deserve to be fucked in return. If it`s possible, get me outta there, Liz. OK?

BM

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Maryrrf
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 11:37 AM

Yeah I guess we can't complain too much because it IS free, and I suppose you get what you pay for. I thought it made a pretty good electronic "Press Kit" with sound clips, a blurb and a schedule readily viewable on one page, but now it all just looks messy and confusing and I don't want to have to spend the day trying to tweak things by trial and error. Of course it was free to users, but presumably they did make money on advertisers. Now I think they may well and truly have messed it up for themselves. MySpace was already losing ground, but they have certainly accelerated that process.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Folknacious
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 11:59 AM

I thought it made a pretty good electronic "Press Kit" with sound clips, a blurb and a schedule readily viewable on one page

It still does once you work out the tools they've managed to hide so annoyingly, possibly even better than before. Though I quite understand why everybody currently thinks otherwise.

How hard would it have been to have had a pop-up when you first logged back in after they changed the design that took you to a simple tutorial and reference section which you could then bookmark. It's all actually quite straightforward and logical - no harder to learn than the original - but ONLY once you know which route to go and what it can do, which isn't signposted at all. Small wonder everybody is struggling and fed up: the obvious places to start don't work, as people have mentioned above. And without any modification, the "converted" pages they've done without asking you first really do look awful, filled with unwanted junk.

If it wasn't owned by Murdoch I'd feel sorry for them. As it is, I quite like the idea of getting something for free off the bad guys which I can then use to subvert the big money entertainment industry.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: michaelr
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 02:06 PM

Folknacious, since you appear to have figured out how to work with it, why not do a good deed and write up and post a tutorial for the technologically challenged? I'm sure many here - I for one - would thank you.

Cheers,
Michael

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Surreysinger
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 02:22 PM

Seconded! I've tried to follow their instructions, but they seem to be assuming rather a lot of technical knowledge, and I find that their modules etc are quite unwieldy!

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Stewart
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 02:26 PM

I too am dismayed with the new Myspace. It's really unnecessary, cumbersome, and frustratingly slow to respond. I am slowly figuring out how it works. Here's a response from Myspace to my help request (they do respond after a while). This explains how to edit the HTML code - something I would have had a hard time figuring out myself.

-------------------------------------------

Hello,

With the upgrade to the new profile for artists, the process strips out any CSS, and places all HTML code in an HTML Box on the right hand side of the page. We do this because it's not only important that we save your objects (voice mail widgets, banners, videos, etc.) for continued use in your new profile, but we know that you've put a lot of effort in getting them in place. We simply don't know what you will want to do with them on your new profile-you may want to keep some and dump others.

In an effort to make things clearer, we carry over the artist details headers in that HTML Box so you can see where you originally placed the objects (i.e., Bio, Members, Influences, etc.). The Bio, Members, and other artist details sections are now reserved for the actual information they were originally intended to contain-your artist details. This means the practice of placing code in the bio or members section is no longer supported. Rich customization can be achieved by using the expandable marquee, background image, colors, fonts, and arrangement of modules on the page.

It is likely you will want to clean up this HTML Box and remove or redistribute the objects to other HTML modules on the page.

To manage HTML on your new artist profile, here's what you do:
click Customize from your profile, or hover over My Stuff and click Customize under Profile
minimize the Profile Designer and hover over the HTML Box to highlight it
hover over the sprocket icon for Settings and click to allow you to edit the contents
hover over and click the X to delete the module entirely
reopen the Profile Designer, and click Publish, then click OK, to complete your edits
Important stuff to know:
the "Bio" section in the HTML Box is not the actual Bio section for your profile. This section is located in the Edit Artist Details page.
there is no support for CSS in the new site
you can minimize the Profile Designer to access individual modules, and reopen at any time you like
if you delete the HTML module, all of you data in that module will be removed.
you can add the HTML or other modules back in at any time by accessing the Profile Designer, choosing the Modules tab, and clicking Add next to any module you want on your profile.
keep in mind that you can add unlimited HTML boxes to your page from the Modules selection in the customization editor.

Sincerely, Jose, The MySpace Support team

-------------------------------------

S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 02:54 PM

Further to to the above, if you lose stuff form your html box, as I did by hitting "go back to default setting", or something like that, you may able to find and copy/paste it (and save some retyping) from Google Search's "cached", for your (hopefully still old) Myspace site.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Surreysinger
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 03:16 PM

Stewart - thanks for sight of that .I have to say that I find those "helpful" instructions almost impossible to understand. Unless you know what CSS is it's of little help at all. There appears to be no on-line help which takes you on baby steps through the process, and frankly I don't have the time to mess with it. I think I lost all the content in the HTML box while trying to work out how to move the content ... it certainly doesn't seem to be there anymore! So I've given up ... time is precious, and I've already spent far too much time trying to work out how to get a tidy looking page (with difficulty).

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Tootler
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 03:25 PM

I saw those "Helpful" instructions, found the so-called module and tried to set one up so I could add information about the songs I had uploaded, but every time I tried it simply disappeared so I gave up in the end. The whole thing was frustrating and not in the least bit user friendly.

Whoever designed the interface obviously had no idea about user interfaces and how to make things easy for the user.

As a result I cancelled my account. At the moment I am using Sound Cloud which is straightforward, though I did lose an uploaded file the other day which I must chase them up about. I think the problem may have been my internet connection which during the recent bad weather in the UK has tended to be slow responding, though fast enough once you get a connection.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Stewart
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 03:44 PM

I agree, those "helpful" instructions could have been more helpful. I've had experience with HTML code and setting up websites. But even so, I had to sort of stumble through his instructions - but I managed. I could probably do even more - but it is time consuming and is it worth it?

It isn't easy to use, no useful instructions are given, and it isn't well thought out. All they did was take something that was moderately difficult to use and make it worse, and in the process alienate their users. What's their point? - I don't understand.

S. in Seattle

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Folknacious
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 05:13 PM

Folknacious, since you appear to have figured out how to work with it, why not do a good deed and write up and post a tutorial for the technologically challenged?

Life is too short, I think, and I don't relish getting the usual Mudcat know-alls jump down my throat and flaming me for getting some piece of arcane techie terminology wrong.

Some hints though. Once logged in, go to the very top, where you see "My Stuff" and click the "Edit Profile" link on the left. When that opens a page, completely ignore the texts in boxes on the right and proceed to the blue "Design My Profile" button. It'll open up a floating design control panel. The first time you do this it'll ask you to select a "Theme" or some such. Pick one you can initially bear and select it (you can change it any time you like). In fact, after that go to "Build my own theme", click colours and find something you like there - it's worth a bit of experimenting. These will give you plain clean backgrounds - you can always add extra background images later if you like cluttering it up with ghastly wallpaper.

Then the fun starts. Click to the modules tab on the control panel. Run down it and click "remove" by all the stuff you don't need - watch it vanish (you can always put it back by clicking "add"). At a stroke, that removes lots of the junk they've strewn around your page. Then even remove your friends, comments etc for now.

Hovering your cursor around, somewhere - usually the right column under the annoying advert - you'll find an HTML box marked something like Bio. When you hover your cursor over it, it highlights it. Under the "HTML box" header there's a little cog symbol which is settings and an x symbol which deletes the whole box. Hit the cog, select all the text in the box, copy it and paste it into a Word document and save it. That's all your old code, including some extraneous stuff that was in other places on the old page, not the text that's on that the first "Edit Profile" page.

Then, frankly, delete all the HTML boxes off the page, just leaving your music player panel and start again. Click "Add" on the HTML box section on the floating control panel, which creates a new box. Do your HTML code editing on a duped Word doc until you're sure you've got it right, then paste it into the new box. I find you usually have to hit the Save button at least twice to see it take effect: that's definitely a glitch, and equally annoyingly the box header won't appear until you "Publish" either. When that's right you can add other boxes if you like.

Then add back your friends, comments, blog in the modules tab etc if you want them.

On the control panel, switch from Modules to Change Layout. You can then drag and re-place all the elements on the page until you like where the text, player, friends and any other elements sit. If you click the "add a Marquee" button, it puts a space in at the top of the page - you can control how deep - into which you can put more HTML, a banner heading for example.

Double and treble check, then hit "Publish" on the module to see your handiwork live. To make changes, go back through the initial process to get back to the control panel.

It would have been much easier if they'd put up a tutorial in English themselves!

Also double and treble check your privacy and account settings, also on the left under the "My Stuff" pull down at the top.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Folknacious
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 05:17 PM

PS: all the above is "at your own risk" and was worked out in Safari on a Mac!

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: greg stephens
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 05:17 PM

Folknacious: thanks a million. That looks amazingly helpful. Trouble is, I doubt if I'll be able to do it, I'm not very clever, But at least you've shown me what to aim at.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Matt Seattle
Date: 05 Dec 10 - 06:35 PM

Thanks indeed, Folknacious. I've already removed some of the junk, and it loads a bit quicker now (still slower than before), I'll get to the rest in due course, on Safari, on a Mac, and at my own risk!

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 06 Dec 10 - 09:55 AM

Having found out the hard way, I can second the advice of Folknacious, and only add that it's good for I.E., also.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 01:02 AM

i think the new myspace was just trying to phase out all the spam and they added a cool feature with the badge system that is attracting a lot of people to the new format

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Fidjit
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 01:22 AM

I managed to update some events so it can't be that bad.

Might try some of the Folknacious stuff later when I've time.

Chas

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: GutBucketeer
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 01:34 AM

I can't even figure out how to display the full "Display Name" of my band in the new format. "The All New Genetically Altered Jug Band" becomes "The All New Genetically Alt". So if you have a long band name you can't display it? Sheesh.

JAB

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 06:15 AM

I'm distraught at what they've done to my neat and carefully constructed page - is there no simple one-button-or-so way to revert to the old page? I just know I'll end up in tears and an even worse mess if I start on those complicated instructions...

If not, I think I'll just move to another site,when I've some time to get into all that.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 09:00 AM

According to Myspace, there's no way back, Suegorgeous, but it's one of those things - once you know it's quite easy to create and arrange with.
Gutbucketeer: I've the same longer-name problem - I'm no longer "David Franks: Walkabouts Verse" but just plain old ",, Walkabouts." And, as well as the above-mentioned Blog problems, there's still no list of regions (unless you're from the U.S.), so I can't get rid of the "Please select your region" on my profile.
Otherwise, it is lighter and better in other ways - e.g., pics and videos look quite stylish and are easier to get to.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Tim Chesterton
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 09:46 AM

I would highly recommend Reverbnation as an alternative for musicians (see my site here).

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: GUEST,999
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 02:28 PM

Thanks very much, Tim.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 03:27 PM

I'm sure it's easy for those used to working with this stuff, but I'm not - bear of little brain when it comes to the tekki stuff, and get easily confused and despairing.

Might have to get someone to come and do it for me, if it's do-able. Are you saying that it's possible to get it looking exactly as it used to?

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 03:31 PM

Thanks Tim. Looks interesting (though I still yearn for the old Myspace look). Was it easy to complete the sections and upload music?

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Folknacious
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 04:26 PM

Are you saying that it's possible to get it looking exactly as it used to?

No, but now I've got the hang of it, I've found it's possible to get it looking better than it used to. Cleaner and less cluttered as you can click a lot off. But you may go doolally in the learning curve . . .

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 07:18 PM

Of that I am certain.... :(

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Tim Chesterton
Date: 08 Dec 10 - 07:36 PM

Was it easy to complete the sections and upload music?

Sue, I found it extremely easy to use, and I'm the least tekkie of people...

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 09 Dec 10 - 10:14 AM

Thanks Tim. Gonna take a couple of days over Xmas to review and check out new sites, and hopefully choose one, so will look into Reverb.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 09 Dec 10 - 02:47 PM

Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, etc. are all large American capitalist companies and, whether or not we like capitalism, if we do want folks to check our work, we might as well participate in the most-used ones. There is, however, one social English-Arts-Council-backed networking site that I'm aware of and use, but it's mainly for poets - WriteOutLoud.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 22 Dec 10 - 01:35 PM

The new Myspace "My Stats" page is very good, to be fair - you can link it to get stats from the other two, mentioned above, plus Youtube, as well.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Matt Seattle
Date: 22 Dec 10 - 02:07 PM

I've now got rid of a lot of the clutter on mine and am thinking of paring it down even further, maybe by hiding some of the friends I'm 'showing off' (their words).

My main concern is expressed as
'The new myspace makes broadband slower than dial-up'

If I find it so painfully slow to load I assume others do too, and will be just as reluctant to sit staring at a page while it loads '159 out of 162 items' on what appears to be a pretty simple web page.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Dec 10 - 07:12 AM

That's the thing, Matt - off-line we are okay with old systems (even back to Windows 98), but online we have to keep upgrading.

Another positive, however, is the new "FanReach" email-templates, that can be sent to all our "Friends" in one go - can't do that on free Yahoo!

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 23 Dec 10 - 07:40 AM

Is anyone still bothering though? I logged in the other day & couldn't make any sense of it at all - let alone know where to begin sorting out my profile - so I logged right back out again! Shame really because a lot of our contacts come in via MySpace but I just can't face it these days.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 23 Dec 10 - 01:02 PM

...having used the new emailing facility for the first time to let folks know about the 2 Christmas tracks on my Profile (link atop this thread), I did get a few extra visits, emails, comments, and plays, S.

It may be worth checking the above explanatory post From: Folknacious - PM Date: 05 Dec 10 - 05:13 PM..?

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 23 Dec 10 - 04:36 PM

Cheers, WAV - I'll have a look in the New Year.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 23 Dec 10 - 05:06 PM

It takes ages to load, has far too many videos, and popups. Alltogether it so OTT it hurts. I'm outta there ASAP

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 24 Dec 10 - 08:39 AM

I just noticed that the email-templates, mentioned above, have a premium pay-for option (no doubt adding to Myspace's profits from adverts), so it's no-longer an even playing field - not even in theory; the sort of thing David Cameron would agree with Rupert Murdoch on, I suppose.

I'm glad Mudcat isn't among the sites that have gone that way - we just have to put up with adverts, of course.

Apparently Murdoch was a socialist when a student in Oxford...I wonder what his stance is on Aboriginal Australian land rights, and those of Native Americans..?

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 13 Jan 11 - 05:14 PM

Is anyone else unable to reply to comments on their profile at the moment? I've messaged Myspace to no avail, so far.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 13 Jan 11 - 06:37 PM

I tried to edit my site - the new profile destroyed all my HTML etc, but it wouldn't let me. I'm not that bothered about flash graphics etc, but I would like to put back some of the basic stuff I had before. Thinking about giving it up and sticking with the website, Facebook and Soundcloud.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Janie
Date: 14 Jan 11 - 05:22 AM

MySpace won't let me cancel my account. Been trying for weeks. At what is supposed to be the last step, it just hangs up. Any suggestions?

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 14 Jan 11 - 06:52 AM

S.P: if you find your Myspace in Google or another search-engine, click on cached and the old version may still be there for you to copy/paste stuff.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Tootler
Date: 14 Jan 11 - 03:42 PM

MySpace won't let me cancel my account.

I had problems like you describe, Janie. In my case, they were related to the email they send you where you have to click on a link to confirm the deletion. Twice it didn't arrive or arrived too late and they had decided I had not cancelled so I had to go through the procedure again. Eventually the email did arrive OK and I was able to complete the cancellation process.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Fidjit
Date: 14 Jan 11 - 03:50 PM

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Fidjit
Date: 14 Jan 11 - 03:53 PM

For those of you looking for an alternative to MYspace. You might like to look here

reverbnation

I'm fed up with Myspace and found this to be great and much, MUCH quicker.

Chas

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Janie
Date: 14 Jan 11 - 07:12 PM

Thanks, Tootler. Now that I think of it, a couple times I also encountered that - not receiving the e-mail. Today I persisted and finally managed to shut it down. Probably would not have kept at it without your post.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 14 Jan 11 - 08:09 PM

Being heartily sick of Myspace messing about, I've signed up to soundclick.com

A Homepage, an Artist Page with unlimited song uploads, and a shop to sell tracks and albums.

Took a quarter of the time that Myspace did to join, and it offers far more.

There's some of my stuff on there if anybody wants to listen. You'll find me on :-

http://soundclick.com/donwysiwygthompson

Don T.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 15 Jan 11 - 03:52 PM

...it seems that Reverbnation and Soundclick both have an easier way of sales, for anyone turned pro - with Myspace, iTunes is still the only way, I think.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 15 Jan 11 - 08:25 PM

Yes WAV. Soundclick make it very easy.

You upload songs, set up a shop and sell single tracks or album compilations.

There is a guide as to pricing limits, and they pay you weekly (subject to a minimum payout set by you) by PayPal.

They also make it easy for you to offer licences for sale to professionals.

I'm impressed.

I'm not sure that streaming audio actually prevents unpaid downloads, I'm going to check that personally, but at least you can limit your songs to streaming only.

Don T.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 16 Jan 11 - 08:54 AM

Thanks, Don - I've, as you say, quickly signed-up, and may put some more time into it in the future..? But the New Myspace is by no means useless, as in a couple of minutes an email can be created and posted to ALL Friends - probably with links to other sites like SoundClick.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Fidjit
Date: 16 Jan 11 - 04:41 PM

Have just found out how to delete the "Friends" that are forced on me on Myspace.

Chas

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Tootler
Date: 16 Jan 11 - 04:50 PM

Glad to be of help, Janie.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 18 Jan 11 - 01:31 PM

The New Myspace Blog is definitely worse than the Old - on top of what I mentioned above, I just noticed there is no-longer a "translate" option.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 06 Feb 11 - 12:22 PM

On the positive side, just noticed folks on Facebook can now "Like"/link-to a Myspace page, in the same way as a Facebook page - which I, for one, haven't bothered to create. Use the link atop this thread, if you wish to check.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 16 Feb 11 - 12:15 PM

It seems that, although many no-longer bother with their own myspace account, a lot do still use myspace to check the music of artists - e.g., I just saw a profile with less than 1000 Friends, but more than 20, 000 plays today.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 10 Mar 11 - 05:40 AM

One of the best things about Myspace, over the years, was that anyone could sample a song or two from an artists collection, but I just noticed that folks now only get 30 second samples - unless they sing up/in to Myspace.

Also, the old jest about "MyFace" seems to be coming true, as another link allows Facebook members to quickly transfer data to Myspace, in order to hear complete tracks.

A couple of months ago, I quickly signed-up to some of the alternatives recommended above, and may be spending some time on them soon..?

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 10 Mar 11 - 12:51 PM

Myspace sucks now. It's the biggest load of twaddle going, and the people who've done what they've done to it should be hanged, drawn and quartered, then put out to dry on a "Don't ever fook up something that worked SO WELL, ever again!!" line, for all to see and be warned by...

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 10 Mar 11 - 05:19 PM

...maybe they're hearing you and a flood of others, Lizzie - what I mentioned just above, about 30 second samples, seems to have been ditched, for now..?

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 10 Mar 11 - 05:29 PM

They wouldn't listen to me or any of their rapidly dwindling users...Pooft! They don't give a shite about anything other than advertising money...

The ADVERTS work instantly, the rest is buggered beyond belief! And WTF would I want adverts all over my page, which dominate everything...and WTF would I want their crappy layouts and designs?

They've broken it, good and proper...and they all deserve to be bankrupted over it, quite frankly, because of their appalling arrogance...

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 11 Mar 11 - 05:52 AM

I tried a profile again today - anyone can play a couple of tracks in full, then an option to sign-in/up (with a via-Facebook shortcut option), and, if not, there are just 30 second samples available; but (adding to the new complexity) clicking on the "MUSIC" link leads to a further 5 tracks available in full...that IS a mess in anyone's language!

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 20 Mar 11 - 04:40 PM

Still prefer it how it was, but I've partly fixed the abovementioned New-Blog problem by creating CONTENTS links to all 230 of my poems/songs; if you'd like to see what I mean, here's the link - http://www.myspace.com/walkaboutsverse/blog.

And, touch wood, they seem to have gone back to the old unlimited-plays for all - whether logged-in or not.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 20 Mar 11 - 05:15 PM

WV, it's crap..Myspace that is.   It locks up everyone's computers for a start..just heard from a friend of mine and he's just bought a new computer, yet *still* it freezes up on that too...

It's utter crap..and there was no-one who championed Myspace more than me years back..I went bananas over it on the BBC board, tried to get everyone to join..

Now, it doesn't deserve to even be spat on for what they've done to it...

So many people used to love writing on there, putting their music on, their art, whatever....and now it lies in ruins, apart from the very determined, but no-one visits it like they did, so what's the point of it????

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 21 Mar 11 - 02:27 AM

If you think MySpace is screwed.. "the people who've done what they've done to it should be hanged, drawn and quartered, then put out to dry on a "Don't ever fook up something that worked SO WELL, ever again!!" line, for all to see and be warned by" ...

I remember WebRing - bought by a certain Big Name group, they 'fixed it so well that they broke it utterly and could not work out what they had done, so THEY GAVE IT AWAY FOR FREE ... and it was fixed in a day or two ....

It still works enough to play Castle Age - and it works better than the 'new improved' Castle Age version on Farceberk, that has been also broken so well that they wont even answer the users any more ...

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 21 Mar 11 - 02:44 PM

I never used Myspace to play games...

Neither did the thousands of musicians, for which it was a wonderful shop window, a way to get the world to hear your music so easily, see your gig dates etc..

You couldn't make up what's been allowed to happen to it.

Still, at least they've got their adverts working, so I guess they've managed to fix the most important part of it, for them........

Myspace was different to FB, which is nowhere near as good for Musicians...In my book, the owners of it had a duty to the people they know used it, benefitted from it, but hey...'duty' is a dirty word these days....

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 21 Mar 11 - 02:56 PM

Last time I checked, with Facebook Pages most (apart from those from major record companies) have to put up with a messy URl - one remaining advantage of Myspace, and folks can link to Myspace pages (and Mudcat threads, I just noticed) via Facebook's Like.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 21 Mar 11 - 05:34 PM

Yes, but...what's the point, Wav...Myspace freezes up a great many computers...The ONLY thing they managed to do to a breathtaking standard was....bugger it all up...

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: Jack Campin
Date: 26 Mar 11 - 07:29 AM

Doesn't look good for them:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/12862139

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 26 Mar 11 - 07:35 AM

OK I've got the game working on FB again - but only works in Chroome, which doesn't have all the firefox plugin bells and whistles...

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 26 Mar 11 - 11:04 AM

From Jack's link: 'MySpace boss Mike Jones...said the site is no longer a social network and is instead an "entertainment destination"'...I suppose that's their only hope and, since I'd rather not bother building a Facebook Page (or another from the above), I, too, hope it works out that way - they are, in the end, all American capitalist companies.

Subject: RE: The (Forced) New Myspace
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 10 Jun 11 - 05:12 PM

Some good news - they've gone back to the old unlimited-plays, for all, on the profile music player.